Shrink Plastic at Back to Basics

It's time for our new challenge at Back To Basics and this time we would like you to use Shrink Plastic on your work.

I can clearly remember my first encounter with shrink plastic, when the children were small (doesn't time fly, my oldest is about to turn 40) and my husband had to work in America for a few weeks. He came home laden with exciting toys for them including one set called Shrinky Dinks. The children were fascinated with  colouring and shrinking the little figures - but not as much as I was! So I was delighted to discover the grown up version some years later.

When the plastic is heated it becomes 7 times smaller in every direction so you can use quite large images on it - this card is A5 sized and the actual stamp would have filled the whole of the card front.  The image is from Daisy Mae designs and the sun and clouds from a magazine cover gift.

I stamped it onto the rough side of my plastic using Stazon ink, and then coloured it using pencils. The colours need to be applied lightly as they intensify during shrinking, and it's best to use pencils as both alcohol based and water based markers can rub off the plastic.

Shrinking can be done in the oven or using a heat tool. I find a heat tool best, and have a wooden handled pokey tool in my other hand to ease the edges apart if, as it curls during shrinking, they threaten to touch and stick together. As soon as I remove the heat, I slap a heavy acrylic block down on the shrunk motif to make sure it lies flat.

I find shrink plastic a great way of using larger images, although they do need careful shrinking because of the curling. It's also useful for making buttons and button-style embellishments and key fobs - but do remember to punch any holes you need before shrinking!

I am sharing this with Use Your Stuff - Weather